A foreign ship was detained in the water area of the port of Reni, Odesa region, which was illegally exporting agricultural products through the closed sea ports of the occupied Crimea. The shipʼs captain was also detained.
This is reported by the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office and the Security Service of Ukraine.
According to the investigation, in November 2023, the ship USKO MFU under the flag of Cameroon, violating the laws of Ukraine and the norms of international law, entered the port of Sevastopol, where it loaded more than 3 thousand tons of agricultural products intended for a Turkish company. At the same time, the ship turned off the AIS automatic identification system, that is, the GPS tracker, in order to mask its route. This is a gross violation of maritime safety requirements.
At the end of May 2024, the ship entered the closed port of Sevastopol for the second time with the system turned off, where it unloaded cargo from Turkey. Then the ship left the port, indicating Istanbul as the destination, but appeared in one of the ports of Moldova. The USKO MFU was intercepted while passing through the waters of Port Reni.
A search was conducted on board the ship — the AIS system, a computer and documentation issued by the occupation administration of the Sevastopol Sea Trade Port were seized. The captain, a citizen of Azerbaijan, was informed of the suspicion of violation of the procedure for entering the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine (Part 2 of Article 332-1 of the Criminal Code). He faces up to 5 years in prison.
USKO MFU has been arrested — the vessel may be handed over to the Agency for Search and Asset Management. A preventive measure will be chosen for the captain soon.
Also, the members of the shipʼs crew — 12 foreigners — are being checked for involvement in the crime.